This invention relates to equipment, systems and methods for the removal of gaseous and/or substantially gaseous material. Such material includes, but is not limited to aerosol and particle byproducts of surgical procedures and any procedures involving cutting, heating or burning, such as odors from chemicals, ultrasonic vapors, and ion dust particles. More particularly, the present invention relates to an evacuator or vacuum head for an evacuation system that efficiently removes smoke, vapor, or plumes released by chemicals or produced by the use of lasers, sonic cutting and/or cautery or other surgical techniques or instruments at a surgical site.
Heating and/or burning of tissue during surgical procedures have become commonplace. An unwanted byproduct of such heating and/or burning, however, is the smoke generated thereby. Smoke plumes can obscure the surgeon's field of vision and the odor generated is unpleasant and distracting to the entire surgical team and to the patient, if awake. Moreover, the smoke plume may contain infectious agents that present a danger to persons in the operating room, and which can leave a lingering contamination within the operating area. Chemical vapor (e.g., such as that produced by the cleaning of computer parts) is, likewise, irritating to the respiratory tract of those who inhale it and may be carcinogenic.
Smoke evacuation and filtering systems have been developed to remove smoke plumes from surgical sites and chemical vapors from the work environment. Such systems typically include a hose connected to a vacuum source or generator and a suction wand connected to the hose, that is, placed at the site where the aerosol is generated. Various filtration systems have been used in conjunction with such vacuum generators to remove odor and infectious agents. Typically, the wand and hoses of known evacuation and filtration systems have required the constant attention or activity of an attendant to hold the wand or the nozzle of the hose close to the surgical site. Another problem is that the flow of air through the hose nozzle and the suction motor are sources of excessive and unwanted noise in the operating room or at the workstation.
More recently, at least in part to address the problems with wands, smoke evacuation systems may include an end effector that can be held in place at a surgical site without the constant attention of a nurse or other attendant. At least one such evacuation system and end effector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,492 (Schultz et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,977 (Thompson et al.), the disclosures of which patents are incorporated herein by reference. Schultz et al. disclose an end effector for removing the gaseous byproducts of laser surgery from a surgical site. The end effector includes a flexible hose and a pliable vacuum head adhesively attachable in a substantially airtight relationship around a surgical site. The vacuum head includes a generally annular plenum for drawing plumes away from the surgical site from around a 360° arc. A porous plenum support prevents the flexible plenum from collapsing in the presence of a vacuum, and diffuses the vacuum around the entire periphery of the plenum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,243 (Schifano) discloses another smoke evacuator including a flexible suction head for surrounding an operative site to draw smoke and air from around a perimeter of the site as smoke is produced. In one embodiment, the suction head is a doughnut shaped tubular member including a plurality of radial openings on an interior surface of the tubular member that faces the operative site. Schifano teaches that the tubular ring member may be circular or oval, and that it need not completely surround the operative site as long as air is drawn substantially in a surrounding fashion.
While known smoke evacuation systems and end effectors may be well-suited for their intended purposes, it would be advantageous if the end effectors could be selectively varied in size and shape to accommodate different sizes of incisions and different procedures, if end effectors could be made available with the intake opening or openings in selected locations, so a particular end effector could be selected depending on the procedure to be performed, if end effectors could be adapted to reduce noise, if an end effector or vacuum head could be integrated with the widely used customary surgical drapes or drape material, and/or if an end effector or evacuator could be adapted to be placed adjacent to and/or on one side of an operating site and/or incision with an intake side facing the operating site and/or incision.